page_title: Battle of Plaman Mapu
section_title: The Fall of Sukarno and the End of Confrontation
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Plaman Mapu / Aftermath / The Fall of Sukarno and the End of Confrontation
caption_attribution_description: English: Official Portrait of President Sukarno. Bahasa Indonesia: Foto resmi Presiden Sukarno.
context_page_description: The Battle of Plaman Mapu was one of the largest battles of the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation, a protracted undeclared war between Indonesia and a British-led Commonwealth of Nations over the creation of a new Malaysian state. The battle occurred as a result of an Indonesian effort to storm a British hilltop base at Plaman Mapu, on the border between the Malaysian state of Sarawak and Indonesia.
  In the early hours of 27 April 1965, a crack battalion of Indonesian soldiers launched a surprise attack on 'B' Company, 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment in their base at Plaman Mapu. The British garrison was outnumbered by at least five to one, but it managed to repel the Indonesian assault after an intense two hour firefight. Acting commanding officer Sergeant-Major John Williams received a Distinguished Conduct Medal for his role in the action. Relief units soon arrived by helicopter, but the battle had concluded by this point.
  The battle was the last attempt by Indonesian forces to launch a major raid into Malaysian territory, and was a propaganda disaster for the Indonesian government.
context_section_description: The action at Plaman Mapu was also a key factor in turning the tide of political opinion against the increasingly beleaguered Sukarno. Defeat in what was intended to be a highly publicised victory helped to break the fracturing patience of the army generals on the right and unite them against what they now saw to be the destructive force of Sukarno and the Communist Party. Tensions between the army and the Communists, already high, peaked on 30 September, when elements of the army, likely Communist, kidnapped and murdered six high-ranking army generals whom they accused of planning a CIA-sponsored coup against the President. Army Reserve Commander Suharto at Sukarno's behest took control of the army and crushed the revolt, but the damage had been done. The army blamed the revolt on the Communists, and excited an anti-leftist fervour among the populace that contributed to the subsequent anti-Communist Purge, where high-ranking members were executed along with hundreds of thousands of suspected collaborators with millions imprisoned. This move almost eliminated the Communists from power and left Sukarno alone and isolated.
  Without the support of the Communists, the increasingly unpopular and destructive Confrontation quickly came to an end. Secret talks between Malaysia and Indonesia were held throughout late 1965 and early 1966, and a peace treaty was signed in August of the latter year. Sukarno was toppled from power by the generals on accusations of collaborating with the rebels and replaced by Suharto as President on 12 March of the following year. The conflict had been an unqualified success for Britain and the West, as she had subdued a rising Communist power in Asia and prevented the 'domino effect' from taking off. And from a purely tactical standpoint, it had been a strong performance from British troops and commanders, as they had managed to confine a brewing disaster on a Vietnamese scale to a relatively small bush war that had a relatively small human cost and stabilised a potentially dangerous political situation of South East Asia.
caption: Indonesian President Ahmed Sukarno, whose role in the Confrontation led to his fall from power in 1967
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